


easy to be, easy to breathe

by heartbreakordeath



Series: in your warmth I forget how cold it can be [2]
Category: Bastille (Band)
Genre: Attempt at Humor, Coming Out, Epilogue, Fluff, Idiots in Love, LOVE THAT TAG THANKS AO3, M/M, idk i'm not funny
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-29
Updated: 2020-06-29
Packaged: 2021-03-03 19:35:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 932
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24970912
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/heartbreakordeath/pseuds/heartbreakordeath
Summary: previously:Despite Charlie’s suddenly flustered demeanor, Dan just stares, not believing any of it. Wanting to, sure. But believing that after all this, he’s not the one who’s been overthinking everything? That he really- that Charlie really- it couldn’t be this easy.(title is actually from a song my mom wrote! she will never ever know it ended up here shh)
Relationships: Charlie Barnes/Dan Smith
Series: in your warmth I forget how cold it can be [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1807411
Comments: 4
Kudos: 7





	easy to be, easy to breathe

**Author's Note:**

> i've learned that when i finish fics, i go from zero motivation to ULTIMATE MOTIVATION and end up writing this in, uh, three hours?? oops.
> 
> Anyways this is a bit of an epilogue, just bc I couldn’t quite leave it where I did :)

As it turns out, it really  _ is  _ that easy. Easy to lean into Charlie’s touch when a hand lands on his waist, his arm, his back. Easy to learn what makes his breath catch until he’s lightheaded and his brain short-circuits (spoiler alert: it’s pretty much anything Charlie does), what makes Charlie sigh in a way that’s not out of frustration, for once.

(they don’t call it  _ madly _ in love for nothing, he supposes.)

It’s easy to show up back at the bus far later than expected, just in time to catch the end of an argument over how much Woody owes Will. To finally spend the last day of tour without any tension- except for when Dan and Charlie come back from a post-soundcheck ‘bathroom break’ red-faced and breathing heavily, and cause quite a few raised eyebrows.

(Neither of them care to explain that they’d secretly just raced each other back to the greenroom after Charlie had bet that he could run just as fast as Dan despite their height difference. Charlie was right.) 

It’s easy to settle into the post-tour routine of Dan showing up at Charlie’s flat once a week, then two, three, four times until he swears he’s got more clothes on Charlie’s spare armchair than in his own closet. To walk through the same familiar door so many times that it feels like it’s not just Charlie’s home anymore- and then, one day, it isn’t.

It’s easy to laugh and watch Prime movies until two in the morning on the couch; to no longer wake up alone in the morning; to have somebody to send stupid texts to, just because.

Maybe it’s  _ too _ easy, Dan can’t help thinking, can’t  _ stop  _ thinking- and the deep-seated anxiety returns with a quiet vengeance. But then he wakes up again, and Charlie’s still there, and all the familiar warm feelings rush back again, and everything’s somehow innocent and heated all at once and all he can think is  _ this is all I care about _ \- he’s  _ all i care about-  _ and the demons leave him alone for long enough.

Some things, though (as they must be), aren’t so easy. There’s still the case of Dan being somewhat of a public figure, as much as he tries to ignore it, and with that comes the unexpected pressure of, well... _ telling people _ . 

It would’ve been simple enough without Charlie in the picture- Dan could’ve made a comment about his sexuality  _ years  _ ago and it would’ve been fine. Now, though negative reactions from the public would be even more unlikely, there’s the question of whether to bring Charlie into the spotlight along with Dan. 

It doesn’t come up for months, with both of them generally being private people under normal circumstances, but when interview season comes around again and he’s being placed in front of cameras with an entirely new set of thoughts in his head...the words stick in his throat.

They ask him about it eventually, the rest of the band. Whether he wants to ‘go public’ with everything. He’s forced into countless awkward conversations with PR managers and social media people, and he’s sick of it. Sick of them trivializing his relationship into ‘the elephant in the room’ or, even worse, ‘the thing with you and Charlie,’ as if it’s some  _ scandal  _ that needs to be dealt with.

So, he ignores the managers (what else is new), and goes to Kyle to complain. Kyle, just as tired of the whole overblown situation as he is, readily agrees to help find a way to get it out there.

And that’s how he finds himself in some low-budget basement interview, talking about hot sauce with a young up-and-coming interviewer and trying to keep his eyes away from his boyfriend smirking at him from the corner.

“It must be nice to go home after tour,” the woman is saying, handing the single mic to Woody next to her. The drummer shares his standard response of being with his family- being the only one in the group with children- and passes it on to Will. 

By the time it gets to Dan, he’s lost the nerve to say anything, as expected. He shrugs with a defeated smile and spouts some bullshit about having more time to work on music and go out to gigs with friends, and pushes the mic none-too-gently into Kyle’s hand when he realizes he’s just been rambling on about nothing.

“It’s definitely nice to spend more time with my girlfriend,” Kyle starts, glancing at Dan before he continues. “We all appreciate being able to do that after tour, really.” Dan’s eyes flick to Charlie, and Kyle takes it as all the confirmation he needs. “Oi!” he chides, raising his eyebrows and following Dan’s gaze off-camera. “Doesn’t mean you have to rub in the fact  _ your  _ boyfriend gets to come to these things.”

Will snorts and rolls his eyes, and when Dan glares at Kyle with a blush creeping up past the collar of his shirt, Charlie doubles over behind the camera, clapping a hand over his mouth in an attempt to muffle his laughter.

“I hope I didn’t fuck up the audio,” the guitarist says later, still laughing slightly when he comes back into the room after they stop filming. “That was too good.”

Dan’s still shaking a bit, but he breathes easier when Charlie returns to his side with a reassuring smile. 

“There,” he says. “Wasn’t so bad, yeah?”   
  
Dan ignores the PR manager making urgent gestures at him from behind Charlie’s back, and grins back.

“Yeah. Yeah. Piece of cake.”


End file.
